Leather strops - which side?

[Mako109]

I've watched several Youtube videos on how to use leather strops, and now I don't know which is THE better side of the leather to use:

- some use the back or rough side of the leather
- some use the shiney side
- yet another uses the shiney side but prepped it (before using for the first time) by sanding it lightly with fine grade sandpaper to create a nubuck like finish

Which side do you use?

[2cha]

I use the rough side for charging with compound or etc, and the smooth side without any additions when I'm just trying to realign the edge.

That's just me. I don't know what I'm doing, but it seems to work well enough.

[toomzz]

The third option is best IMHO. Just beneath the hide is the finest leather grain (nubuck?) so if you remove the thin hide you can use the surface under it. I found it out accidently :rolleyes:

Tomas

[unit]

It depends on what you are doing and what you hope to achieve.

Softer strops create a more convex bevel. Harder strops are better for refining a V-bevel. If I am removing a burr after very fine abrasives, I prefer a hard shiny strop, if I am refining a very coarse edge (removing burrs and polishing facets) I like a very soft suede strop. Sometimes I do not even use leather when I strop.

Then there are the variables introduced by compounds added to the strop...some compounds will not load on hard shiny leather, others sink into the soft side to the point of being less effective.

The answer is, "it depends".

[spydietingle]

Unit, you just made my head hurt a little....but good info.

[phillipsted]

Unit - I agree with you. I maintain a rough-side strop that has been heavily charged with green rouge. This is what i use when I need to hand polish and hone an edge. Some guys I know keep a couple of different strops charged with different grit levels of compound.

I also keep a shiny hard plain leather strop for removing burrs.

TedP

[SQSAR]

Like others have said, it depends. However, for me personally, I've had the most success with the smooth side, mounted to a firm backing, and use only diamond pastes. I've tried other combinations, but for me, this just seems to work the best for a variety of conditions.

[jackknifeh]

Here are my thoughts from someone with very limited experience with strops. :confused: I think the best side for me is the smooth side charged with abrasive. I use DMT diamond paste of 6, 3 and 1 micron on an old belt glued to pieces of wood. I just found out on this forum where to get pieces of leather (untreated) and am going to get some. The reason I choose the smooth side is by the time I am going to strop an edge it is already very sharp and the rough side of the leather seems to me like going backwards in grit (I mean getting coarser). I could be wrong and if I am could somebody please explain why I am wrong. I came up with my theory all by myself with no help from any experienced people so there is no telling how wrong I actually am. The strops do work very well though. I can let a ZDP-189 edge get just a little dull and the 1 micron strop will put a hair popping edge back on it. Just a little plug for DMT. I love all the diamond sharpening products I've bought from them. Their stuff is consistantly great. When I bought the paste I was ready to buy a new set of chisels because I just couldn't get them sharp enough. Now they are as sharp as new. I used the paste on a piece of glass to sharpen them. Now I use the strops I made and keep the chisels in tip-top shape in addition to my knives. I love strops. They are the iceing on the cake.

Jack

[jackknifeh]

Something just occurred to me. I don't think Spyderco makes any stropping products. I wonder why.

Jack

[razorsharp]

i use the smooth side, i put jewelers rouge on it. works magic

[bada61265]

ive got two i made from an old work belt, basically use the shiny side for both because by trial and error i prefered the shiny over the rough and the rough seemed to loose allot of leather to the abrasion of stropping. i keep one charged with a red rouge and the other with a more abrasive compound made for stainless and other metals. it really puts the finnish touch on a sharpening job, i find softer metals like vg10 and 8cr13mov respond well to the rouge and the harder steels like s30v and m4 do well with the other. though m4 seems to respond nice to the rouge too. ive had luck with using old leather belts with no compound, i think just breaking off the bur from an edge sometimes is all thats needed to get a great edge. ive been using my compounds and strops to get the edge to a nice polish almost as much as i have for just a final bur removal.

[Mako109]

Thanks very much to all of you for sharing your experiences and insights. Great information!